Radiation protection in the medical field is important, particularly for physicians and healthcare practitioners. Procedures and therapies are often designed to minimize patient exposure while allowing physicians to effectively treat the patient. For example, imaging machines may be designed to decrease patient exposure by implementing lower radiation levels. However, cumulative exposure of physicians and healthcare practitioners may be significant as they often perform multiple treatments in a typical day, and may be increased when a particular treatment requires physicians' hands, for example, to be within a field of radiation.
Healthcare workers using traditional equipment and techniques are often exposed to radiation during patient procedures. For example, physicians' or healthcare practitioners' hands may be exposed to radiation from fluoroscopic imaging equipment when inserting a catheter in a patient's vessel, or when delivering other instruments, medicines, fluids, or other endovascular devices in a patient's vessel. Even when radiation levels may be minimal for a given procedure, cumulative exposure of physicians and healthcare workers can be significant over the course of multiple procedures per day.
Physical barriers have often been used to limit radiation exposure. Radiation shielding and body wear, however, can be bulky and obtrusive. For example, some physical barriers can increase orthopedic stress on the physician or healthcare worker using the body wear and/or inhibit ergonomic efficiency. Some physicians and healthcare workers may forego such physical barriers to avoid one or more of these drawbacks. As a result, physicians and healthcare workers may expose themselves to undesirable levels of radiation.